The Kula Ring

The Trobriand Islanders, off the east coast
of New Guinea, constitute the subjects of one of the earliest works of
ethnography and economic anthropology authored by Bronislaw Malinowski,
a major figure in the discipline (Malikowsi 1922). He identified several
unique and fascinating economic institutions within Trobriand society but
the "kula ring" has attracted the most attention. This system of
exchange involves annual inter-island visits between trading partners who
exchange highly valued shell ornaments.

There are two types of shell valuables or vaygu'a

necklaces (soulava) and

armbands (mwali)

Mwali

A Trobriand Kula expedition

Each participant is linked to two partners:

one to whom he gives a necklace in return for an armband
of equivalent value

the other to whom he makes the reverse exchange of an armband
for a necklace.

Although each individual is tied to only two other partners,
each contact has an additional connection on either end of the distribution
chain, which eventually forms a great circle linking more than a dozen
islands over hundreds of miles of ocean.

Malinowski considers the motivation for the enormous expenditure
of time and effort involved in
kula expeditions to be fundamentally
non-utilitarian "in that they [the kula valuables] are merely possessed
for the sake of possession itself, and the ownership of them with the ensuing
renown is the main source of their value". However, the development of
kula partnerships has many social implications.

They establish friendly relations among the inhabitants of
different islands and maintain a pattern of peaceful contact and communication,

They provide the occasion for the inter-island exchange of
utilitarian items, which are shipped back and forth in the course of kula
expeditions,

They reinforce status and authority distinctions, since the
hereditary chiefs own the most important shell valuables and assume the
responsibility for organizing and directing ocean voyages.